Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Monday, April 23, 2012

WHAT IS A SCAR?

Scars! What is a scar to you?

For a long time, I have worried about the physical scars on my body. I was always ashamed of having so many scars. There's the one from when I had surgery as a baby that is now almost a foot long on my side just below my waist. There's the one on my ankle from an IV when I was a baby. Then I have the one from my knee surgery back when I was 6. Now, that's not all the scars, those are just a few of the physical scars that I have and that are visible a good portion of the time depending on what I'm wearing. Do they bother me? Well, sometimes I get a little self conscious but they are what makes me who I am today.

But what about the emotional ones? What about the scars from lost friendships, betrayals, failures, abuse, and the other things that make up emotional scars? It took a long time for me to realize it but a scar is actually a GOOD thing. It is a sign that the body has healed. And the scar or healed broken bone is actually stronger than what was there before. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not an advocate for getting scars intentionally.

The same goes for the emotional scars. When you are hurt, God listens and puts a scar in the place of the hurt. BUT, only if you let him. And by letting him I mean: don't revisit the reason the scar is there over and over again. When you get a bug bite or other scrape or scratch, what happens if you keep scratching the scab off? The wound doesn't get a chance to heal! The same goes with our emotional hurts. If we keep revisiting the event that hurt us deeply then the wound will never heal. It will continue to stay there and can even get infected which can cause more problems. There is a time for mourning something that has been lost, someone who has left our life for whatever reason or our own inability to do something correctly causing emotional hurt HOWEVER, to go on for years carrying that hurt and anger will only hurt you more in the end. And why would we want to do that? Does a mosquito bite itch? Yes! Sometimes bad. What happens if you scratch it? It feels kind of good to scratch it but that doesn't help the bite heal up, it only prolongs the suffering.

So my other -NOT-SO-RANDOM-THOUGHT for today:

Stop picking the scabs off your wounds. Let the great healer, our Lord heal up the hurts and wounds. AND STOP PICKING AT THE SCAB!!! Wear your scars proudly. Never be afraid to tell your story, you never know whose heart you will touch.